Day
27 & 28 Barn Hill Station
Two
days spent lazing around. It was quite windy and there was heaps of
red dust being blown everywhere. We left the kitchen set up but we
should have put it away each time after we used it because everything
ended up covered in red dust.
They had a roast night on Sunday night, $17 a head and we decided to go. It was byo everything, table, chairs, plates, cutlery and f course drinks. There was a couple of guys playing and singing too, it was a really good night and worth doing. Chatted to the couple who were beside us, they were from Brisbane and were headed to Kununurra. She had a job in the hospital there, a big change for them. It got quite cold so we decided to finish our bottle of wine back at the camper.
Had a nice walk along the beach on Monday. Went further than we had on the first day and the rocks were amazing. Quite incredible to see what erosion can do.
There were a few people fishing and I thought about throwing a line out but decided it wouldn't be too pleasant with the wind. We'd spoken to a guy at Mt Augustus who recommended Whalesong to stay at on the Dampier Peninsula so we gave them a ring to see if they had a vacancy for 16th to 20th. Unfortunately they were gooing to be away over that time so we looked at Wiki Camps and tried Pender Bay Escape. The guy got back to us and said yes so we're booked in there, looking forward to it.0km travelled.
They had a roast night on Sunday night, $17 a head and we decided to go. It was byo everything, table, chairs, plates, cutlery and f course drinks. There was a couple of guys playing and singing too, it was a really good night and worth doing. Chatted to the couple who were beside us, they were from Brisbane and were headed to Kununurra. She had a job in the hospital there, a big change for them. It got quite cold so we decided to finish our bottle of wine back at the camper.
Had a nice walk along the beach on Monday. Went further than we had on the first day and the rocks were amazing. Quite incredible to see what erosion can do.
There were a few people fishing and I thought about throwing a line out but decided it wouldn't be too pleasant with the wind. We'd spoken to a guy at Mt Augustus who recommended Whalesong to stay at on the Dampier Peninsula so we gave them a ring to see if they had a vacancy for 16th to 20th. Unfortunately they were gooing to be away over that time so we looked at Wiki Camps and tried Pender Bay Escape. The guy got back to us and said yes so we're booked in there, looking forward to it.0km travelled.
Day
29 Barn Hill Station to PCYC Oval overflow Camp Broome
Packed
up and on the road by 9. No rush as there's not far to go to Broome.
Arrived at the PCYC camp about 11:30 and checked in. Quite a good
set up, nice big site but no shade. Certainly good price wise,
$30/night as opposed to the caravan parks which are anywhere from
$50/ night. Quite a range of campers from a huge 5th
wheeler to small one person tents and everything in between.
There's 2 other overflow camps that open in the peak season and we chose this one because it's reasonably close to town. We walked in, took us about 45mins. Went to Chinatown, which was a bit underwhelming apart from the Sun outdoor cinema which was pretty good, then to the visitors centre and booked our trip to the Horizontal Falls. We'd planned to do it on the 21st or 22nd out of Derby but it wasn't happening those days because the tides weren't big enough.
The earliest we could do it was the 25th so we locked that in and decided to retire to Matso's Brewery to plan what we were going to do for 4 extra days. In the end we decided to see if we can stay 4 extra nights at Pender Bay Escape, if not then we'd explore other options.
There's 2 other overflow camps that open in the peak season and we chose this one because it's reasonably close to town. We walked in, took us about 45mins. Went to Chinatown, which was a bit underwhelming apart from the Sun outdoor cinema which was pretty good, then to the visitors centre and booked our trip to the Horizontal Falls. We'd planned to do it on the 21st or 22nd out of Derby but it wasn't happening those days because the tides weren't big enough.
The earliest we could do it was the 25th so we locked that in and decided to retire to Matso's Brewery to plan what we were going to do for 4 extra days. In the end we decided to see if we can stay 4 extra nights at Pender Bay Escape, if not then we'd explore other options.
146.6km
travelled.
Day
30 PCYC Oval overflow Camp Broome to James Price Point & return.
Had
a bit of a sleep in and after breakfast fuelled up and did some
shopping at Bunnings and the local shopping centre. Not quite “The
BIG Green Shed” but big enough. Had to go to Clark Rubber
to get some rubber to try and seal up the rear hatch on the Mitchell
which has been leaking dust. Stopped at the sports store in the
shopping centre and bought a couple of jigs for fishing. The
attendant assured me that they would catch fish so we'll wait and
see. Went to Subway for lunch then headed out of town towards James
Price Point.
Aired
down at the end of the seal. With the reputation of the Cape Leveque
Road I decided to go down to 20 in the front and 25 in the rear.
About 4 or 5 cars went passed while we were stopped and no one
stopped to air down. Bet they had a bumpy ride ! Called in at
Willie Creek Pearl farm, not really set up for day trippers, unless
you have a couple of thousand to spend on Pearls that is.
They have quite a few mini busses and do a tour of their operation, so I guess that's what most of the people there had been doing. There two or three campers set up in a not hugely attractive site I have to say, not sure what they charge a night. Back out to the James Price Point road, it was really rough and corrugated, mainly sandy with some gravel parts. These were by far the roughest sections. A few people were camping at James price point. Didn't seem to be many sites as such, maybe you just drive around on the long grass and make your own? Stopped for a while and watched some whales playing on their way passed.
Called in to Quondong Beach on the way back, seemed to be quite a few camping spots and lots more people camped there.
Back in town and we did some grocery shopping before a quick trip to Cable Beach to see the sunset. Lots of people there and quite well set up with lots of car parks.
Back to the camp via the service station to fuel up. Leftover Teriyaki beef for dinner.
They have quite a few mini busses and do a tour of their operation, so I guess that's what most of the people there had been doing. There two or three campers set up in a not hugely attractive site I have to say, not sure what they charge a night. Back out to the James Price Point road, it was really rough and corrugated, mainly sandy with some gravel parts. These were by far the roughest sections. A few people were camping at James price point. Didn't seem to be many sites as such, maybe you just drive around on the long grass and make your own? Stopped for a while and watched some whales playing on their way passed.
Called in to Quondong Beach on the way back, seemed to be quite a few camping spots and lots more people camped there.
Back in town and we did some grocery shopping before a quick trip to Cable Beach to see the sunset. Lots of people there and quite well set up with lots of car parks.
Back to the camp via the service station to fuel up. Leftover Teriyaki beef for dinner.
167.2km travelled.
Day
31 PCYC Oval overflow Camp Broome to Pender Bay Escape.
Up
early but no great
rush to get packed up. Quite a heavy dew overnight and the canvas
and quick awning were quite wet. Had breakfast then Carol headed to
Woolworths to buy some toilet paper for Pender Bay Escape. We'd got
an email the day before asking if we could bring some up with us. I
was going to fill the water tank but didn't get the camper keys out
so had to wait until carol got back. Everything was dried out nicely
by then, so we packed up and got on the road by 9. We only had 179km
to travel but the Cape Leveque Road has a wicked reputation and Mr
Google advised us that travel time was 5hr5min. We aired down again
at the same place as yesterday, there were a few others doing the
same this time but some others also went straight passed without
stopping. If the road was the same as the one we drove yesterday to
James Price Point, there's no way I'd drive it without airing down.
I went down to 20 and 25 again and Carol drove the first bit. The
map shows 84km of gravel in the middle of 2 sealed bits at each end,
kinda odd that the last bit up to Cape Leveque is sealed. The road
was the same as yesterday, very sandy and very corrugated. We
swapped after about an hour and the going didn't improve any.
There's road works at the northern end as well as the first stage of sealing the road is underway. Once back on the seal it was difficult to find a place to pull over and air up. The road edges were very rough and it looked very soft. Eventually pulled over at the turnoff to Banana Well. It was a bit of a pain knowing that we'd have to air down again once we turned off to Pender Bay Escape but driving on bitumen with 20psi in your tires isn't a great idea! Sure enough, half an hour later we were airing down again for the track in, which was very narrow in parts. We puled over to let a couple of cars pass going the other way and passed on caravan going very, very, slowly.
We arrived around 1, so about a 4 hour trip. We checked in then Andrew, the manager, showed us around and then to our site C6, looking right at the water of the western bay...................awesome.
There's road works at the northern end as well as the first stage of sealing the road is underway. Once back on the seal it was difficult to find a place to pull over and air up. The road edges were very rough and it looked very soft. Eventually pulled over at the turnoff to Banana Well. It was a bit of a pain knowing that we'd have to air down again once we turned off to Pender Bay Escape but driving on bitumen with 20psi in your tires isn't a great idea! Sure enough, half an hour later we were airing down again for the track in, which was very narrow in parts. We puled over to let a couple of cars pass going the other way and passed on caravan going very, very, slowly.
We arrived around 1, so about a 4 hour trip. We checked in then Andrew, the manager, showed us around and then to our site C6, looking right at the water of the western bay...................awesome.
There were whales playing in the bay as we set up, we'd already extended from 4 nights to 8, I think we were going to like it here!! Set up and when we went to slide out the kitchen to get lunch ready......................stuck!! The weld on the catch that holds the kitchen in had let go, it has done it once before about a year ago when we were out in the wheatbelt. Fortunately that time we were able to come passed Pioneer in Wangara on our way home and get it repaired. No such luck this time of course. I took the panel off under the bed and managed to release the catch so that the kitchen sides out and we can use it. We'll have to try and find someone in Broome to fix it when we get back.
Roast Chicken done in the Ziggy for dinner.
194Km travelled.
